99. Training Wk 12 - Setbacks

Covid has been a bit shit. The illness itself not so bad, but it has eviscerated my training now for what will be two weeks by the time I start running again. I'm not going to be an idiot about it and pick up where I left off before I got sick. The experts are suggesting that I need to half my training load to ease back in and play it by ear to build on from there week-on-week. I do have some time though. The question is how quickly can I get back to where i need to be over the course of the next 6 weeks. Overall it has been a truly shit few weeks in my world. Most things that could go wrong have, and they entirely steal your energy and momentum. My problems are not as bad as others' but they still suck and they do impact on your mindset. Of course, these things will eventually pass and straighten out in one way, shape, or form. Until that point, I can't help but be frustrated.

My data tracking is now showing the inevitable fitness drop off. As you can see from the progress chart, Fitness (Black line) has taken a hard hit. The Fatigue levels have of course dropped way down because I've basically done nothing for ten days. This is my training and fitness summary illustrated since the New year. It was going really well. Now it is not. This pisses me off as I don't like hard work going to waste. I estimate this two weeks with no training will set me back almost a month in my progress. Not insurmountable, however certainly a negative hit.

I should do my best to keep some perspective throughout this latest setback though. If I zoom out across the last 6 months, my fitness looks to be still much better than early December last year, and at the end of January. The thing I need to ensure is that I get back to running quickly now, before things slip too much further

The question now becomes about how to come back to training...

Push too quickly after the 'beer-flu' and it could prolong the effects of the illness. Leave it too long and I leave myself a bigger mountain to climb. So here's the plan...

I aim to get back out on the trail on Saturday this week. Nothing much, just a VERY easy 10km-14km. I'll mix walking and jogging (more walking than jogging I think) and see how I feel. It will be slooooowww

I'm heading to Edinburgh for a few days on Sunday with the family, so I will get plenty of walking done and play it by ear as to any running while I am there. For now, I just feel I need to get my system moving again. It's like my cells feel 'unclean' after this illness. It has not been helped by coming off my diet for the last week. My weight has held quite well though, in the circumstances. I've gone for simple foods with energy as a priority so that my body had enough calories to do what's been needed to shake this virus off. I stopped the fasting, and came off the low carbs. I've not been too reckless, but I just gave my body what it wanted me to eat through this. I can get back to that in a week or so. That's less of an issue for me right now compared to the training.

The last couple of weeks have been testing me for sure. Mentally and physically. At times I've been feeling like I'm just holding on through the shitstorm I've had to deal with. This for me is where the biggest challenge is. How to keep grounded and motivated when things are not going your way. Last week was different in as much as I was in a fever-driven fugue for half the week. This week I just feel a bit battered and flat. This is driven as much by the fact that I'm unable to do a great deal about a number of the issues that have cropped up the last couple of weeks.

I've talked before about knockbacks and knockdowns. It's where the resilience gets built. It does not mean they're nice, and does not mean I wouldn't rather plain sailing... But life just isn't like that. What I am doing, though, is putting myself first. Even where other people rather I didn't. One thing I've learned over the years is that people are quick to take everything you are willing to give. It can quickly drain you dry if you're not careful, so now it's a period of time for me to hold on to what I need. Others' stuff is for them to figure out for a bit, while I build back enough energy and additional resources to assist other people. It'll come back soon enough, I just need to be very mindful about recovering first otherwise there'll be little for me to give. If I don't, it'll just set me back further than I'd like. Resources are finite and, until I have plenty built back to go around, I need to preserve what I can for a couple of weeks while I work through the things that only I can control. Is it selfish to think like this? Some might say yes. Experience tells me though that, if I don't, it will be me that pays the price for it. Right now I am working hard to recover, to get life back on track and fix some of the problems that I need to fix. To keep myself well anchored to weather the storm, waiting for calmer seas that'll allow me to give more of myself again.

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